


Raising the Dead

by Witch_of_History



Series: Secreta Revelare [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-08-28 18:37:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16728720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witch_of_History/pseuds/Witch_of_History
Summary: The Marauders and their gang of misfits have graduated from Hogwarts and are quickly thrust into the real world the with the disappearance and assumed death of one of their closest friends. Everything is leading up to the story that is told throughout the Wizarding world.





	1. A Day to Remember

**This was a moment she never thought she was going to see, the graduation of her class with her and James Potter as the Heads.** It felt like only yesterday she was coming up with scathing nicknames for him in the common room while Remus laughed and Alice made snide comments. Now…

“You seem distracted, love. Anything I can do to change that?” Warm arms wrapped around her and started them swaying to the music slowly, even in her hidden corner of the ballroom. James had been kind enough to invite all of their year (besides those who couldn’t get passed the wards, cough cough Nott) for a party at Potter Manor which was large enough to hold them all and had enough staff to keep couples from sneaking off. Besides of course the Marauders who knew the password, whispering their code as they passed by doorways to sneak away. “Come to the garden with me? I want to show you something.” 

“You know you’re terrible at flirting, just tell me you want to go kiss under the stars to be a romantic sap.” Lily laughed as she was twirled around the hallways and ended up stumbling into the greenhouse, her vision blurry. “Potter, I can’t believe you!” 

He nuzzled her cheek while he kept her steady, moving them over to the lilacs that she loved so much. “You know me better than anyone and it’s only been two years. I don’t know what would have happened without you being at Hogwarts Mrs. Evans.” His tone was getting softer, like he had something important to tell her. Was he going away? “But there is one thing that has always bothered me, your name. When I think of Lily Evans I think of the girl who punched me in third year and called me names. I think of the girl that cursed my broom to never fly the way I want it to because I told everyone you were scared of heights. Which is all and good, but not very romantic.” She punched him for old times sake, not really knowing where he was going with it. “But what I want to picture, is the woman before me. Stronger than a thousand men and with a wit to match mine that is constantly used against me. I want to picture my wife.” To tell you the truth, Lily almost passed out. “But for right now, I’m okay with a fiance.” He knelt down and took out the ring he’s gotten a month before. “So Lily Evans, would you let me change your last name to Potter?” 

“James, I thought you were going to take my last name. But I suppose…” The laugh that rang throughout the greenhouse was quickly cut off as James captured her lips in a kiss, ignoring the tears that sprang from both their eyes and simply enjoyed the moment. The thought of never getting to the wedding itself was shoved aside by the love that finally became visible between the two.

* * *

 

**Not even the faeries they had hired as lights could stop themselves from dancing in the air above their heads, twirling each other about and giggling to themselves as they watched some of the newly graduated students stumble.** Frank, however, was not one to lose his footing in any situation. Unless Alice wasn’t around, then he tended to lose a lot more than that and find himself in the wrong place with no shoes and a black eye from tripping over the carpet.

Alice on the other hand was always the picture of grace and laughter, until she got to the dance floor. Long ago she had tried to throw a house elf her shoes before turning to a friend at the last minute. “I’ve been hanging around with Muggle-borns too much!” She laughed as she climbed onto his feet and let him lead her around the floor. “You know Aphrodite used to tell me all about how we’d grow old together and have a son who would save the world. I never really put any stock into it until you danced with me for the first time, and every time after just reminds me that she’s right. I want that with you.” She kissed his cheek as she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. “I want to never stop dancing on your feet, is that something you can live with?” 

Even if Frank had been a Ravenclaw, he would have found this girl because in that moment he could almost see a tiny string attaching them together. “Alice, you dancing on my feet is something I could never live without.” The kiss they shared was chaste, but it held more to it under those dancing faeries than most rich men held in gold during their lifetimes.

* * *

**Sirius Black was never the man to settle down with a girl and make the most of the world with her and he thought James was the same.** Then Lily Evans strutted into school knowing she was worth so much better than their teenage boy bullshit and James Potter all of sudden was faced with a challenge he had set for himself. Somewhere along the way his best friend had fallen for the girl that shoved both of them into the black lake. Sirius had promised himself that he wouldn’t be the same fool. And then Aphrodite Williams pulled him into a corridor and kissed him. “What…?”

“Is that what you say to all the girls you sneak off with? I thought you were popular for a reason.” She was smirking at him from underneath her lashes, her tongue sticking ever so slightly out of the side of her mouth, driving him absolutely crazy. 

As soon as she teased him, Sirius got his head back. “I always assumed you were the innocent type who thought holding hands underneath the table was dangerous. Or does it only take a couple butterbeers to get you to let go?” He was shoved further into the wall as she pressed against him, letting his hands roam as they wished. “Or have you always been this...forward?” 

Aphrodite raised a delicate brow at him. “Padfoot, if you want something you’re going to have to stop talking to get it. Or I could just go somewhere else…?” She tilted her head to reveal her neck, laughing as he quickly got to work to make up for his initial hesitation. “To answer your question, no. I’m not usually this type of person but that was when I was a child. I’m eighteen now and there is nothing in my way of doing exactly what I want. And what I want…” She pulled his head gently away from her and reached up on her tiptoes so their lips were centimeters apart. “...is for you to stop asking questions so my mouth doesn’t have to answer.” 

* * *

He got lost in her at least a dozen times when they were in that corridor, realizing he could drown in her kisses or suffocate in her neck and he would die with everything he needed in his arms. Sirius was never the man to kiss the same girl twice, but he would never get this one out of his head no matter how many times she made fun of him. In fact, her teasing only made it worse. Was this what it felt like for a the other girls behind greenhouses and in empty classrooms? Falling in love because of a simple kiss?

“You are much less aggressive in what you want then I had previously heard, I thought you’d have tried moving your hands from my waist by now.” There was a bit of anxiety in her voice that he wanted to kiss away, but realized he couldn’t. Aphrodite was not one to get distracted by anything unless she wanted to. 

“Because I’m content to just kiss kiss you for now, later when we can do things properly we can decide what we want.” The blush that spread across her cheeks and highlighted her freckles usually hidden by her darker tone. Being unable to tan without horrid burns showing up first was always the Black curse, valuing pale skin to show they didn’t need to work. But looking at her, he couldn’t understand why. “For some reason, I want to take things slower with you and do them more than once if you’ll let me.” 

“Mr. Black, if you want to do this again you’ll have to take me to dinn…” Aphrodite froze in front of his face, her eyes wide and tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. She suddenly lurched backwards, grabbing at her curls like she was bleeding. “Venus is in trouble, we have to find her!” 

Knowing that she was never wrong, Sirius dashed down the hallway. He crashed into Peter who had two butterbeers in his hands. “Where’s Venus?” 


	2. Everyone Escapes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Venus is gone and everyone is coping in their own way. Are they healthy? Probably not, but everyone is putting on faces and Aphrodite is done with it. She's done with the war, the wizarding world and the mess her friends were creating of their lives. 
> 
> She isn't the only one upset with the way things are going, fingers weaving new paths to what they want because of course...they know best.

**There was a trail and he was going to follow it until he found her or Voldemort found him.** Either way, Peter was not going to stop looking. No one paid attention to a rat scurrying around, they weren’t expecting little ears to be picking up all of their secrets. He had a map spread across any table he could find in Potter Manor that wasn’t being used. He had a color system plotting points where she might have gone, where she might have been taken, places she hated. 

“She’s always hated the idea of backpacking, she always said being a free spirit just meant you had nothing to do with your life. If she was running from someone, that wouldn’t be her first choice.” James pointed out, tracing the lines his friend had created with his finger tips. 

“Yes but everyone knows that. And even if they didn’t, backpacking is the easiest way to disappear. Becoming a muggle means no magic happenings to trace, no apparitions to follow, it would be the best plan.” He stared at his mess of a process, the discarded ideas that didn’t pan out and the new ones he knew weren’t going to either. “Even if she was captured by Death Eaters, hiding her away like that would make the most sense because it would be harder for  _ us _ to find her. That way they’d have more time.” 

A sigh behind him meant the coming of another friend breaking, another one giving up. “Pete, have you considered that she’s gone? That the reason we can’t find her isn’t because someone took her, but because…?”

“If you say there’s nothing to find, you will find out just what kind of jinxes I’ve been learning in this library of yours.” A twinge of enjoyment at James step back was quickly squashed by realizing that he had just threatened one of his best friends. “That wasn’t right to say. But don’t you guys see that I’m not just looking for a moving target? A muggle grave that no one can remember who she was or how she died. If someone killed her, they don’t want us to be able to mourn her. They don’t want us to be able to say goodbye, so they would hide her away.” A sneer that seemed almost dark spread across his lips. “Besides. If we had a body, I would know who did it and wouldn’t even need magic to destroy them.”

* * *

 

**Lily long ago had told him that he was better than all of the Blacks before him, not allowing his anger to get the better of him.** But when he realized that he was the reason that Venus was gone, he couldn’t find a single reason he was better. His magic got the better of him, he lost himself to his Animagus. 

“You’re doing amazing work here, you’ll be one of our best officers if you keep this up.” Meeting James’ eyes was hard, knowing that the only reason he was doing well was that he was constantly using his animagus form to boost his abilities. Though his charms weren’t as strong, his reflexes were faster as his ears twitched with every sound or brush of wind from someone moving. He hadn’t stopped working or  _ moving _ since Venus’ disappearance, paying no attention to the people he loved and ignoring everything that was important to him. 

Lily didn’t even glance at him when she met James’ at the door, ready to bring him out on one of their dates. She was handling it much better than any of them, shoving all of the toxicity out of the door and focusing on the good. “You’ll get that top spot in no time, you’re working so hard for this.” 

When Dumbledore came to him asking if he wanted to be a part of a new group that’s main goal was destroying the growing blood purists, he didn’t have any reason to say no. He could almost hear Lily in his head, “Dumbledore always finds people at their worst and fixes them up so they can’t live without him.” but he couldn’t find the strength to listen to a memory.

* * *

 

**She knew it was going to be hard for the rest of the group, but what did she have left?** It was almost too easy to make the plans without anyone knowing, finding a new job that actually fit what she was looking to do and a cheap apartment until she got her feet underneath her while her and Juno settled in. There wasn’t that much to pack, she didn’t want most of it. The bedspread that they made to keep their hands busy when their brother died, the potted flowers that always made Aphrodite sneeze…

“Hey ‘Dite, I really need…” Alice’s face couldn’t have been paler than it was when Aphrodite rounded the corner, not even if she was dead. It was hard to hide the fact that she was moving when there was nothing in her apartment besides what was original. “What. the fuck.” 

“I’m moving to America and I kind of need to be out of here in under an hour so can we...wrap this up?” Aphrodite was expecting her friend to cry, scream, punch her, leave. She wasn’t expecting to suddenly be apparating into the middle of Potter Manor. “Hi everyone, how did we get here with the wards?” 

“Oh we are talking about that later sweetie, because you are going to explain to us  _ exactly _ what your plan was. I know you weren’t expecting me to suddenly appear in your apartment, so I  _ know _ you were planning on just disappearing without a word. And don’t go trying to get out of this by saying you need to be out of your apartment, I’ll take care of it. James, I think it’s best if you take yourself and your guests to a quieter space because this is  _ not _ meant for virgin ears.” 

Lily scoffed, kissing her husband goodbye before shutting the door behind them. “What are you two going on about? We have guests, it can’t be that bad.” Aphrodite wished Lily was always right only once in her life, that exact moment.

* * *

 

“I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING LEFT! Venus is gone, Sirius is always half bitch and you guys are doing what you do best. Coping by pretending NOTHING IS WRONG! Lily dove into becoming a healer like if she learns enough she can make Venus materialize, Peter isn’t even Peter anymore, he’s Dumbledore’s puppet! Dumbledore says join this, go here and he goes to fuckin’ Romania and JOINS THE ORDER!” 

“YOU DO HAVE US! You just refuse to get out of your own grief to realize that maybe there are other people besides you! I know that she was your sister and you knew her eleven years longer than us, but fuck you for thinking we don’t know she’s gone!” It was a strange sight to see Lily’s face get as red as her hair and if she weren’t so angry, Aphrodite might have taken a picture. 

Alice had been quiet most of the time they were there, standing as Lily’s back up to show that because it was two against one, Aphrodite was always going to be wrong. “You act as if we’re moving on with our lives because we don’t care. We’re moving on because if we stay here wounded, we don’t get to destroy the asshole that did this. We don’t get to make them pay for what they did to Venus.” 

The ghost of cold fingertips brushed up and down her arms as if trying to warm her up, but only stole what little warmth she had left. “You want revenge. That’s what you think she’d want? That’s what  _ you _ want?! Venus might have been a Slytherin, but that didn’t mean revenge was her main motivation. She  _ always _ made sure she had strong alliances and neutral standing with those she didn’t agree with, she made sure she wasn’t in any danger by turning on the charm and making sure no one even  _ thought _ to hurt her and if they did they knew there was shit coming their way. So not only would she not want you to put yourselves in danger, the person who hurt her must have someone to take the fall so if you are taking revenge it’ll be on the  _ WRONG _ person. Don’t be so blind in your own anger.” 

Alice huffed. “So that’s why you’re leaving. You’re a coward. You’re afraid of who might be behind this and you don’t want to face him. No wonder you got put in Ravenclaw, all you care about is facts and when you don’t have them you run.” 

She almost smacked her friend, but she kept her cool. “I’m going to go live with Juno, we’ve got an apartment we can stay in until the two of us get our lives on track in America. This is not my war, it’s taken  _ enough _ family from me. I guess it even took my friends.” Before they could stop her, Aphrodite apparated to her empty apartment. Alice really had taken care of moving her out, at least her old friend wasn’t a liar. She didn’t even hesitate so apparate to her next meeting point.

* * *

 

**If there was one thing that the Potter men did well, it was putting on a face when everything around them was falling to pieces.** Even with his home becoming a central for all of his friends and their chaos, he found himself plenty of time to sit down in the library to research the wards and how to increase them. He took his breakfast of extremely caffeinated tea and biscuits with him, hoping not to wake his still sleepy wife. 

“Zispy is not knowing what’s it reads sir, I is only knowing where Master Fleamont puts it, sir.” The small house elf was brought in for extra help when he was born as his mother seemed to know immediately he was going to be trouble. Zispy quickly was found to be a better fit in the library than anywhere else in the manor. She knew exactly where every title was, knew exactly what you needed if you were working on a project or researching for a business deal. “Has list of family wards and play things by Master Henry, Zispy must warn Master Potter…” She looked like a nanny now, one hand on her hip and the other shaking a finger at him. “Master Fleamont not approvin’ of Master Henry’ siz books. Zispy must warn Master Potter to be careful.” 

James held in a warm smile as he thanked her for helping him find what he needed. “Zispy, ask Cadbey to go over the potter asset listing and financial records to make sure there aren’t any mistakes. Make sure he gets me an appointment with Gringotts, I want see to it that we have the same information,” he said calmly, turning to the books as a clear dismissal. He waited until he heard the unmistakable  _ POP! _ of a house elf’s travel before slouching into his chair.  “Grandfather, what were you doing?” Though he wanted to dive in to what his father clearly didn’t want him to see, he sighed and started reviewing the old wards. 

A soft knock on the wall behind him warned of Lily’s arrival. “You’ve been in here for so long I thought Sirius had smuggled you away for a guys night.” Her smile was weak but it was something, easing when he kissed her in greeting. “What have you been working on? What is all this?” 

“The wards for the manor, there are a lot of routine ones for a family home such as ours. This one is protecting from weather damage, this one is muggle repellant, dark magic shields...There are a few others that of course we knew about before but I find very interesting and am trying to learn how to strengthen. There’s an anti apparition ward that is everywhere besides a designated point in the house where we can take approved visitors, the malevolence ward which keeps anyone will bad will towards the house of Potter off our land. That one particularly, did you know it includes emotional, physical, mental  _ and _ spiritual harm? It’s incredible. It’s one of the few that my father put up that it seems my grandfather either created or tweaked to his own benefit.  _ praesidium ab violentiam in corporis mens spiritus caput. _ ” 

“That’s brilliant James, but don’t you think…” Her eye must have caught the wartime enchantments as she stopped. “You don’t think it will come to that, do you?” Did he think that blood signatures of his allies would need to be written in a book so old the beginning was in a dead language common tongue? One could only hope, so the couple let dinner get cold on the table as they stared the oncoming storm in the face.

* * *

 

**If there was one thing that her sister taught here, giving to others was the best way to deal with your emotions.** Petunia gave out what she was feeling, but Lily wanted to give what she herself needed from other people. As she worked on tidying wraps and potions, she went back to those days where she would help Poppy in the infirmary. Yeah, this could work. 

“Ms. Evans, can you take care of the children’s wing long term ward for a second? I just need you to distract them long enough for me to take care of their sheets.” Work was something she could do.

* * *

 

**It was easier to pretend he was in the middle of a nightmare when he was doing something.** All of his dreams involved settling down into an easy job and getting to finally have some calm in his life, so travelling around the world doing missions that involved danger well beyond his monthly visits to his family cabin was something that took him out of reality. “I said get out of my way.” The worst missions were the ones that Dumbledore sent him on that brushed too close for comfort to his transformations, when his voice was little more than a growl and his eyes were tinted with the darkness trying to break through. 

The idiot in front of him didn’t seem to care how far into the tides he was wading, the drunkard was still pushing Remus’ boundaries. “You're standing in the wrong part auf Boston fah where you're from. Get auut auf here, you ain't welcome.” 

“And you’re existing where you aren’t welcome, don’t make this a security issue.” The guy swung very sloppily and drew the attention of the bartender who just sighed in relief when Remus picked up his so called “attacker” by the collar of his shirt and carried him out the door to dump him on the street. When he went back to the counter, he smirked into his free drink for getting rid of the ruffian. “So, he been bothering you much?”

The bartender must have been new and too inexperienced to know any better or too tired to care. “Of course he has…” And so began the tale of Amos Hastings, the man who came back from war with a bitter tongue saturated with drink who decided there was nothing worse than other countries besides their people. If he just happened to be part of a unit that passed through a wizarding artefact ruin and stole something of value, it wasn’t the muggle’s problem. But it was definitely Remus’ and it was his job to make problems disappear.

* * *

 

**This was going too far, he was getting too close.** It wasn’t as simple as put her here and let her rot, no that wasn’t working as he kept  _ finding _ her. But every time he went to investigate, every time Peter Pettigrew rolled into town with hope in his eyes, she was gone. Every person he thought she was turned out to be a muggle with amnesia or insane, every grave turned out to be a mistake or a different mystery all together. 

“Impressive, he must not become an auror. Let’s give the little rat something to do besides meddle in my business, eh Fawkes?” And suddenly he had control over where Peter looked, how long he was there and he even knew exactly what his former student knew. 


End file.
